Baker Street is a street in Victorian era London, which includes several shops, businesses and terraced residential houses. The street is a fairly lively place, with locals and shoppers wandering about their daily business, newsboys promoting the latest issues of local newspapers, moderate traffic on the road, and so on. One of the local residences is 221B Baker Street, the home of famous consulting detective Sherlock Holmes and his closest friends.
Behind the scenes[]
In the ITV/Granada Television adaptations , Baker Street and several adjacent streets are represented by a detailed period backlot, purpose-built for the series at Granada Studios in Manchester during the early 1980s. In addition to this main backlot, several smaller backlots were also built to represent generic Victorian era London streets and alleys. [1] Between 1988 and 1999, the Sherlock Holmes backlots were open to the public, as part of the Granada Studios Tour.
Trivia[]
- Various parts of this version of Baker Street and its mundane hustle and bustle are featured heavily in the series' opening titles. This iconic sequence ends on a shot of Sherlock Holmes thoughtfully watching the street from the windows of 221B Baker Street. The sequence was also later homaged in one of the early scenes of "The Abominable Bride", the 19th century themed special of the BBC series Sherlock that premiered on New Year's Day 2016.
- Period traffic on the street's road includes Hansom cabs, cyclists, delivery carts, and even a green-coloured double-decker open-top omnibus, serving London's then public transport. A very similar one appeared in the Sherlock special's homage of the opening sequence.[2] [3] Early passenger cars have also occassionally appeared on the street in some of the Granada series' episodes (e.g. The Problem of Thor Bridge). [4] [5] [6]
- The theme heard in the series' opening titles also represents the leitmotif of Baker Street and Holmes' residence at 221B Baker Street.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ BW photo of 221B Baker Street backlot being built at Granada Studios, Manchester, in 1984.
- ↑ Article on urban transport in the times of Sherlock Holmes
- ↑ Behind the scenes still from The Abominable Bride at bbc.co.uk
- ↑ Overview of horse-drawn and motorised vehicles in the 1984/1985 series at IMCDB.org
- ↑ Overview of motorised vehicles in the 1991-1993 series at IMCDB.org
- ↑ 1902 MMC 10hp tonneau image in a review of The Problem of Thor Bridge